It’s sink or swim for Illinois against No. 15 Iowa

CHAMPAIGN — Illinois coach John Groce knew before the season began that the Big Ten Conference could be even better top to bottom than it was last year.

The evidence was there this week with teams near the bottom of the standings, Northwestern and Penn State, scoring upsets over No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 24 Ohio State, respectively.

That could bode well for Illinois (13-8 overall, 2-6 in the conference), which will try to snap a six-game losing streak tonight against No. 15 Iowa (16-5, 5-3) at State Farm Center.

“It’s one of those things where if those guys are doing it, why not us?” forward Jon Ekey said. “It’s our time to get a big win like that.”

Dangerous slide

The cliche goes that anything can happen in the Big Ten and no one is safe on any given night, especially on the road. That has been true, except when teams have faced Illinois as of late.

Impressive showings recently from some of the other teams near the bottom of the Big Ten have prompted some pundits to predict the Illini will finish last in the conference — seemingly unthinkable earlier this month when the Illini were ranked No. 23 in the AP poll. A six-game losing streak changes things quickly.

No Illinois team has lost seven consecutive games in the last 15 years, not even during the toughest times of the Bruce Weber era. The last time Illinois even dropped six in a row was two years ago, before they ended that streak with a victory over Iowa.

“When adversity hits you have to grind harder,” said Groce, who is in the midst of the longest losing streak in his career as a coach.

This will be the team’s first game since Sunday, so after taking Monday and Tuesday off from any physicality, Groce said the Illini came out refreshed in practice Wednesday.

The break in the schedule came at an opportune time for the Illini. Not only were they able to allow some nagging injuries to heal, but they also tried to deal with any mental blocks that can spawn from a six-game losing streak.

“This week because we’ve had a little bit more time we’ve been able to refresh our bodies a little bit physically and mentally and really examine and spend more time on us while also preparing for a really good Iowa team,” Groce said. “So the bye week came at a good time for us.”

The Illini must find some consistency on offense to come away with an upset. It is a difficult task for an Illini team with four freshmen gaining regular playing time; the Hawkeyes do not play a single freshman. Entering tonight’s game Illinois ranked 11th in the 12-team Big Ten in free throw attempts, 11th in field goal percentage, 11th in three-point field goal percentage and 12th in assists.

When one scorer seems to find a rhythm, the others disappear.

Such as last week, in one game Rayvonte Rice was held scoreless while Joseph Bertrand netted a season-high 19 points. During the next, Rice accounted for 20 points and Bertrand scored two.

“We’re fully aware that our offense needs to get better,” Groce said. “We’ve worked on that this week hard. We talk about being solutions based all the time, and I think we’ve seen some strides there for sure.”

Groce added the Illini will need every player to contribute for the team to be successful this year. In fact, he has been saying that too even before the season began.